Because my family's the bestest family

A few hours ago, I said goodbye to two friends who have become family.  Wow.  I thought I'd never have a reason to want to return to Galway...and then I met these two.  I'm going to miss them more than they know.

And then there's the whole community-family to which they introduced me.  Check this out: upon hearing that I needed a ride to the bus station, two (other) friends offered to drive me...all the way to Shannon.  Now, my flight leaves at 7 am...which means that they've offered to leave here at 2:30 am to get there by 4 am.  And then they're going to drive all the way back.  This, friends, is friendship, service, love...and it's crazy, but it's also true.


In other family-related news, here's a snippet of last night's conversation between me and my mother.

Mum: "So you packed all of your shoes...all but the sneakers, so you can wear them on the planes.  Right?"
Me: "Well, sort of..."

You guessed it - my sneakers have been in my duffel for days.  This girl's wearing her pretty boots all the way to arrivals.  They're too chunky to pack away.

Oh, fine.  I am just making an excuse to wear them.  What can I say?  I travel in style.

Did you know my daddy's coming to JFK to pick me up?  I can hardly wait to see him.  Not everyone is lucky enough to have a dad, much less one as caring as mine.  Although we do have frustrating moments - moments in which we wear each other down instead of building each other up - he loves me, and I miss him.  (Also, he says I can drive home if I'm not too tired.  I think he knows that I miss driving...but I don't think he knows that I drive faster in heels.)

It was tricky to find a photo of Dad and me that wasn't completely outdated; he tends to be the one behind the camera.  So this will have to do - and aren't they just dashing?

And my mum?  She's taken a whole week off from work to hang with her girl.  Naturally, I've been imagining different scenarios for ages - fantasies about those first few moments, those first few days.  There are little movie scenes circulating in my mind about what I'll say and what we'll do and I'm trying not to obsess, but it's all so tantalizingly close.

My mum's so beautiful!  Oh, I think we each had our own shawls that day, but sharing is caring, after all.

If I'm lucky, I'll be able to garner a few hours with my little sister.  Being the working woman that she is, she'll need to leave for Philadelphia on Sunday evening itself.  However, we've already planned to make up for this minor inconvenience; I'll be visiting her in two weekends, so Philly had better get ready.

Nostalgia alert: this was taken the first time she visited me at Union.  We bought a half-pint of some extra-fudgy kind of Ben & Jerry's, watched a movie, and jumped on my bed.  These sisters walk on the wild side.

And - you know I was saving this for last - my sweet boy?  All he wants from me is Mexican lasagna.

Oh, stop...I'm kidding.  While I have heard mention of lasagna on the last few Skype calls, I'm fairly certain that he loves me for more than my food.

Don't even get me started.  Oh, this boy...